The act or process of breaking a family relationship or disowning; denial of paternity.
From Latin defiliatio, from de- (away from) + filius (son). This legal and genealogical term refers to severing blood or familial ties, particularly the legal denial of a parent-child relationship.
Defiliation was a dramatic legal action in ancient and medieval times—a parent could literally erase a child from the family record, which was far more destructive than it sounds in cultures where family identity meant everything!
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